ITV Sport will showcase UEFA Champions League highlights to free-to-air audiences in a new 10.00pm slot on Wednesdays throughout the competition.
The free-to-air broadcaster has made the unprecedented step of moving back its flagship ITV News at Ten bulletin to 11.00pm to make way for a one-hour Champions League highlights programme, which will go on air less than half-an-hour after the final whistle of Wednesday nights fixtures.
Fronted by ITV’s lead football presenter Mark Pougatch, the 10.00pm show will feature extended highlights of all British teams’ games from each matchday, plus goal round-ups from other games in their respective groups.
This will be followed after the ITV News by a second programme, UEFA Champions League Extra Time, which will include highlights from a selected match featuring non-British team, plus goal round-ups from all the
Alongside highlights and goals from every game on each matchday, the highlights programmes will also feature expert analysis and comment on the week’s action from regular ITV pundits including Lee Dixon and Roy Keane.
In addition to the new time-slot, ITV will also use a new-look studio for its programmes this season, which will make its debut on matchday 1 on Wednesday, September 18.
The move by ITV to showcase its free-to-air Champions League highlights in a high-profile 10.00pm slot comes in light of the broadcaster losing all of its live European football rights to BT Sport from the start of this season.
As part of its commitment to UEFA following the loss of live mainstream terrestrial coverage, BT Sport will air selected European matches on free-to-air channel BT Sport Showcase, available on Freeview channel 59.
BT Sport Showcase will air 12 live Champions League games free-to-air during the season, including every British team at least once, plus guaranteed coverage of the final in May, while the channel will air 14 selected Europa League games, also including the final.
Having secured a sensational £900m deal for exclusive live coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League in autumn 2013, BT Sport beat off competition from both Sky and ITV, who shared Champions League rights between 2003 and 2015.
ITV will also broadcast terrestrial highlights of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday nights throughout the season, with its shows airing after the ITV News at Ten.
Commenting on the three-year highlights deal in 2013, Niall Sloane, ITV’s director of sport, said: “We are happy to have secured these highlights packages and to be able to bring them to a significant free-to-air viewership.”
ITV’s three-year deal also covers online and mobiles rights to both European club competitions on ITV’s website and continues the channel’s association with the Champions League which stretches back to 1992.
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